Final Draft - Preview Matter - Florida State University

Perhaps we are meant to interpret the antefix (Fig. V.8) and the boss (Fig. V.10) as masks of the
river deity, who is also primal, liminal, and otherworldly. Since we know that the Etruscans
could conceive of Achelous as a man-headed bull due to his presence on the mirror (Fig V.7), we
are perhaps better off identifying unlabeled bull-headed men as the great river deity than as the
god of wine.
One last piece that relates to the bull-gods of Etruria is a bucchero oinochoe decorated
with the head of what may be an anthropomorphized bull’s or calf’s head (Fig. V.11). This
rather fantastic vessel makes use of the mouth of the bull/calf as its spout. The elaborate design
hints at something beyond usage as a daily item. If we are meant to associate the contents of the
vessel with the bull as a representative of a god, then we are again faced with a question of
ambiguous identity. If we choose to associate this vessel with Achelous, the connection is quite
obvious. Achelous is the personification of a river, and pouring water from this pitcher mimics
the flowing water. Bacchus/Liber’s connection to wine also fits this interpretation, and we must
remember that his association with liquids does not end there. Bacchus can be found in the
power of all rushing fluids. 543 In relation to the cult of Dionysos, Dodds writes:
His [Dionysos’] domain is, in Plutarch’s words, the whole of the E M ( -
not only the liquid fire in the grape, but the sap thrusting in a young tree, the
blood pounding in the veins of a young animal, all the mysterious and
uncontrollable tides that ebb and flow in the life of nature. 544
Thus, if this is a ritual vessel, association with either god is possible. If this oinochoe was used
for pouring libations of wine, this vessel may be tied to a bull-formed Bacchus.
Altheim has linked the relief decoration, which consists of youths engaging in a bull
game or hunt, on the body of this pitcher to an Umbrian rite in honor of the goddess Tursa Jovia.
He suggests that this scene of youths grasping bulls by the horns and legs is the Etruscan
equivalent of the Umbrian ritual in which cows were released, hunted, and then sacrificed.
Furthermore, he traces the origins of this rite to a hypothetical, native, Italian bull cult. 545 The
suggestion that this vessel may represent Umbrian religious practice is appealing, but the action
on the vessel does not seem violent enough to be construed as a hunt. M. Sprenger and G.
Bartoloni instead suggest that this is the myth of Hercle’s contest with the Cretan Bull, which
543 Bruhl 1953, 17
544 Dodds 1960, xii.
545 Altheim 1938, 73-9.
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